


A Long Walk to Caldera City

by scarletskys



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Azula (Avatar) Redemption, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, I'm a sucker for the found family trope, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, One-sided Aang/Katara (Avatar), Ozai (Avatar) Being a Terrible Parent, S3 Canon Divergent, Uneasy Allies, romance exists but it's not a major part of the plot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-23 10:28:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,723
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30054066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/scarletskys/pseuds/scarletskys
Summary: "Katara had been using waterbending to wring out her hair. That's all she did.She thought she was safe.That's why she wasn't expecting it at all when she was tackled."Katara is brought in chains to Caldera City. Zuko is trying to figure out his life, Katara is fighting for hers, and the rest of the "Gaang", as Sokka calls it, is desperately trying to figure out how to get Katara out of prison and still save the world by the Day of Black Sun.
Relationships: Aang & Toph Beifong & Katara & Sokka & Suki & Zuko, Azula & The Gaang (Avatar), Azula & Zuko (Avatar), Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Sokka/Suki (Avatar), Toph Beifong/Original Character(s)
Kudos: 15





	A Long Walk to Caldera City

**Author's Note:**

> I've been sitting on this one for a while and I figured I'd finally post it.

Katara had been using waterbending to wring out her hair. That's all she did. She had been bathing, and after she got out, walking back from the river to where she put her clothes, she used waterbending to get the water out of her hair and wrappings. (Her old ones had gotten destroyed like the rest of her clothing, but she had found some in the Fire Nation that were similar enough. Strips of plain white cloth weren't that hard to come by.) 

She thought she was safe.

That's why she wasn't expecting it at all when she was tackled. 

\---

Tazi did not want to be here. She hated her job. She was only doing it so she could feed her sick mother and small son. But she was here, on the most boring rotation: patrolling the Shuijing River and surrounding forests. Could she be stuck with a duller task? 

There she was, walking along the banks, when she noticed a woman bathing in the river. That was weird in itself - nobody did that - but Tazi made to avert her eyes and continue on her rounds. As she was striding past, the woman - no, girl, really - started to get out, and she was wearing some sort of wrappings unlike any undergarments Tazi had seen worn in the Fire Nation. That was even stranger, but the most unusual thing was the fact that the girl had nothing to dry herself off with.

Normally, Tazi wasn’t the type to watch someone dress from behind a tree, but something about this girl was… off. Sure enough, moments later Tazi’s suspicions were validated as the girl _bent_ the water out of her hair and undergarments. _A waterbender_. Tazi’s breath caught. 

There was only one waterbender that Tazi knew wasn’t hiding in the North. The Avatar’s waterbender. Not three weeks ago, an order had been sent to round up the Avatar’s companions and bring them to Caldera City to the Fire Lord. There had been a description of each of them. This girl matched the description. She was a _literal freaking waterbender_.

It may have been stupid - Tazi wasn’t even a bender - but she let instinct take over, and she rushed out, and tackled the waterbending girl. 

\---

Katara’s head smacked against the ground, making her vision swim, but she managed to throw the person off of her and get into a fighting stance. It might not have been wise to waterbend, but the person must already know, for why else would they have attacked her? 

The person that tackled her was a Fire Nation soldier, not that much bigger than Katara. Maybe she hadn't been seen waterbending, the hopeful part of her brain said. She decided it was safer to ask. “Why did you attack me?” Katara shouted, not dropping her stance.

“You're a waterbender,” the soldier said simply, also in a fighting stance, and female, if the voice was any indication. “We have orders to bring you to Caldera in chains.” 

_Great. Just great._

Katara pulled water from the nearby river, and poised herself to attack, but before she had a chance, another person grabbed her from behind. The water splashed to the ground, soaking everyone thoroughly, as the person holding her bound her hands behind her back. 

It was better not to struggle, Katara decided. With her hands cuffed, she couldn't bend, but it was likely the soldiers could, and she had almost no experience with hand-to-hand. She would only get herself hurt or killed.

The two soldiers frogmarched her into a village and locked her in a holding cell. Katara was tired and her head ached. Sleep quickly claimed her.

\---

Katara was woken early in the morning by a loud banging sound. She cracked her eyes, wondering if it was Toph or Aang or Sokka she’d have to yell at, then she saw a large man in red armor banging on metal bars between them, and Katara remembered her situation. 

Her eyes flew open, and she tried to stand, but someone had chained her hands and feet to the floor. The soldier chuckled meanly at her stumble, and dropped a bowl on the floor of her cage, splattering the contents everywhere, then left. 

The soldier hadn't given her a spoon, not that it would have been useful with her hands chained, but she refused to eat with her face like an animal. So, instead, she looked around the cell. It wasn't the same cell they had locked her in last night, Katara decided. They must have moved her while she was asleep. 

That was when the rocking registered. They hadn't _moved_ her, she realized. They were _moving_ her. On a boat, by the feel of it. 

There wasn't anything to do, so Katara idly daydreamed about being back with her friends. She hoped they wouldn't worry too much, or do anything stupid to rescue her. She was perfectly capable of fending for herself. She decided that Toph could probably stop Sokka and Aang from running after her if worse came to worst.

She sat for hours with nothing to do. Nobody beat her, though, and for that she was grateful. No one forced her to eat either.

Eventually, a guard came to her cell door and unlocked it. He unhooked her chains from the floor, but left her hands and feet shackled together. 

They must have stopped, Katara realized. She hadn't noticed a change in the rolling under the ship, but that must be the only reason she would be allowed out of her cell. The first soldier had said she would be taken to Caldera. The Fire Nation capital. They must be there.

The guard took her by the upper arm in a bruising grip and all but dragged her out of her cell and up to the deck of the ship. The weather was hot and uncomfortably muggy, like most of the other Fire Nation islands she'd been to. 

The deck of the warship was where Katara got her first glimpse of the Fire Nation capital city. It was beautiful. Katara had been constantly amazed since coming to the Fire Nation that a country with such twisted ideals could hold so much beauty. But the capital was in a league of itself. 

The air was heavy with humidity and the scent of an array of spices, most of which Katara couldn't name. The area near the dock seemed to be a market: there were stands lining the edges of the streets, selling everything imaginable, from flowers to snacks to jewelry. The streets were bustling with a wide array of people, men, women, and children. Many had the distinctive black hair, pale skin (although the skin of many had been tanned), angular features, and gold eyes of the Fire Nation, but Katara was surprised to see features from the other nations mixed in. There were plants everywhere- vibrant greens and flowers and trees. There were flowers blooming right in the middle of the road and vines snaking along the backs of market stalls. There were children running around and playing and climbing the towering trees that dotted the edges of the pathways. 

Katara had never seen anything like it, not even in all her travelling with Aang.

She was abruptly reminded of her current predicament when her guard growled, “Yeah, yeah. Welcome to Caldera City. Now come on.” Katara closed her gaping mouth and let out a short sigh of air, not even aware that she had been holding her breath, and the guard moved his hand from her upper arm to a length of chain hanging from the chains linking her wrists, and it was uncomfortably clear now that its purpose was to be a leash. 

Katara was led to a small metal cage attached to a Komodo rhino, which the guard shoved her in. She was taken, not through the bustling marketplace, but through back roads, to a looming fortress. Katara wasn't sure why they went through deserted side streets. She expected that they would have wanted to show her off, the last southern waterbender, the Avatar’s waterbending master. 

However, she found it hard to think about that as she got closer and closer to what she thought was the palace. It made sense that the Fire Lord would want to see his newest prisoner of war, as she _was_ one of Aang’s masters. That didn't make it any easier to think about though. 

_Calm down_ , she told herself. _You're getting ahead of yourself._ She didn't know for a fact that she was being taken to the Fire Lord. It was quite possible that she was being brought to a prison.

Katara should have known that she wasn't that lucky. 

She was dragged through the entrance to the metal fortress, and through a labyrinth of dark hallways, lit by torches. They stopped in front of doors larger and more elaborate than those leading to Earth King Kuei’s throne room. Katara swallowed. There was only one place those doors could lead.

Someone on the inside opened the doors slowly. Too slowly. 

It revealed a giant room with a tall ceiling, sweeping arches and proud pillars, glossy black floors and blood red walls, beautifully embroidered tapestries and elaborate torches.

But Katara couldn't think about the beauty of the room. All she could think about was the raised dais on the far end of the room. The raised area that was alight with flames and shrouded three figures in shadow. Even though Katara had her suspicions about who they were, the dancing light made them look even more intimidating and imposing, which, she supposed, was the desired effect. 

Someone placed their hand in between Katara’s shoulder blades and shoved her forward. She stumbled, but quickly regained her composure, attempting to stand as tall and as proud as she could, despite the fact that her heart was racing somewhere in her throat. Despite the fact that she was almost quivering in terror, that each step felt like an extra chunk of lead in her stomach. Despite the fact that she hadn't been given anything to wear over her wrappings. Despite the fact that every shaky step closer to the front of the room felt like another step closer to certain death.

Someone yanked on her leash, signaling her to stop, about six or seven strides from the thrones. From where she stood, she could barely make out who was behind the flames. 

On her right was a teenage girl, probably around the same age as Katara herself, hair tied back in an immaculate topknot. Azula. On the left was Zuko. She shot a venomous glare at him before shifting her gaze to the man in the middle. The Fire Lord. He looked almost exactly like the portrait Aang got in his school, but nothing could have prepared her for seeing the man in person. He had the classic sharp cheekbones, milky pale skin and shiny black hair of Fire Nation nobility. His golden eyes glinted from behind the dancing fire with a gaze so cold, it felt like daggers. Being in his presence felt like… fear. Katara didn't know how else to describe it. 

She realized that was probably what he wanted, so she swallowed back her terror and stood as straight and prideful as she could, steeled her gaze, and stared straight back at him. 

Someone hissed to her, “Bow, you idiot savage.” Katara ignored them. 

She felt a sharp pain in her legs as someone kicked the back of her knees, but she didn't fall. 

There was a loud crack and a sharp sting on her back as someone whipped her. Katara stiffened, but refused to cry out, bit back her tears. 

There was another crack, another pang. She didn't make a sound, refused to give them the satisfaction of hearing her shout, seeing her kneel. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from making a noise so hard she tasted copper.

Another crack. Another. Another. 

Katara could feel hot, sticky blood running in rivulets down her back by the time anyone made a sound. She almost jumped when she heard a low rumble filling the room, and her eyes widened when she realized the Fire Lord was… _laughing_? Well, chuckling sinisterly might have been a more accurate description. It didn't last long. 

The Fire Lord’s deep voice sent shivers down Katara’s spine. “A prideful savage? Hm. Dispose of it,” he ordered. 

Katara's heart dropped into her stomach, horror mixing with indignation at being called an “it”. 

She was being roughly turned around by a pair of the guards when Zuko spoke. “Wait.” Although he was quiet, his voice seemed to fill the whole room. Katara responded by leveling her glare at him. 

He wasn't looking at her, though, but instead at the Fire Lord. Every eye in the room was on him and he acted like he didn’t notice. “It may be of use yet,” Zuko said.

Katara did not like the sound of that.

“It was the Avatar’s waterbending master, yes? Then it will be important to the Avatar’s companions. Specifically, the companions planning the invasion on Agni’s Day of Rest. Perhaps it is important enough to them to risk attempting to rescue it.” 

Katara's gut twisted. Death would almost be preferable to what Zuko was suggesting they do with her. He was going to use her to get his slimy hands on Aang. Zuko must have known he was alive- Katara had shown him the spirit water. Had even offered to _use_ it on him. She couldn't believe she almost wasted it on that stupid, two-faced traitor. He must have told the Fire Lord that she had it and had used it to resurrect Aang after Azula shot him. 

The Fire Lord was silent for a moment, weighing the options, Katara assumed, then decided, “Fine. Imprison it. I don't care where. Just make sure it cannot escape.”

The guards dragged her away, and she sent one last (hopefully) scathing glare over her shoulder at Zuko. She was bait now. And it might actually work. 

She felt like vomiting. 

\---

“Where is she?” Sokka yelled. He was running all over the campsite like a spooked rat-crow, wringing his hands, checking behind trees, turning around in circles…. In short, he was driving Toph insane. 

“Sokka, calm down,” she grumbled. “She's probably still down at the river.” 

“For three hours, though?” Aang asked nervously. Both of the boys’ hearts were racing and the vibrations were hammering in Toph’s head uncomfortably. 

“Ugh, fine,” Toph groaned, throwing her hands up in the air. “I’ll go check on her. If I’m not back in ten minutes, come find me.” 

Sokka and Aang nodded. Toph trudged off to the river, muttering about stupid, overprotective boys.

As she got closer and closer to the bank, she prayed to the spirits that her seismic sense, which she prided on being infallible, was, for the first time, wrong.

“Katara?” she called. “Katara, are you there?” 

Silence. 

Toph stamped her foot into the ground and extended her senses as far as they could go. There was a small village nearby, tucked into the forest, and something on the ground she couldn’t identify, but she couldn’t sense Katara. She was just… gone.

“Guys,” Toph yelled back to Sokka and Aang, her voice almost impossibly tight. “I can’t see her.”

There was the heavy stomp of Sokka’s steps and the barely there brushes of Aang’s, and then both were beside her, their hearts racing. 

“Where is she?” Sokka asked frantically.

“I just said I don’t know!”

“Guys, look at this,” Aang said in a pinched voice. He was squatting next to the object Toph couldn’t identify. She and Sokka made their way over to the thing. When Sokka got close to it, his breath caught and his heart stuttered.

“What is it?” Toph complained. “I can’t tell what it is.”

“It- it’s… Katara’s clothes,” Sokka gasped out.

The world felt like it was tilting. “There’s a village that way,” Toph said, struggling to keep her voice steady and solid like the element she wielded, pointing in the general vicinity of the town she sensed. 

They stumbled into the town, and immediately started hearing whispers coming from across fruit stands, in dark alleyways. “...the Avatar’s waterbender….” “...Caldera City….” “...orders from the Fire Lord….” 

_The Avatar’s waterbender_. That had to be Katara. Toph suddenly felt very sick.

An idea struck her. She gestured for Sokka and Aang to wait, and approached a woman working a stand that, from the smell, sold mangoes and firestars. “Excuse me, miss,” Toph intoned softly, and slightly wobbly. “I was wondering… I keep hearing rumors about… a waterbender? Would you happen to know anything about that?”

Toph noted that the woman’s heart rate kicked up at that, but it wasn’t fear. No- this was excitement. She leaned conspiratorially across the fruit. “The Avatar’s waterbender. A couple of our soldiers caught her; brought her through the town a few hours ago!” she whispered. “I saw her myself. Loaded her up on a boat and left. They say she’s being taken to Caldera City on orders from Fire Lord Ozai himself.” 

Toph’s gut lurched unpleasantly. “Thank you, miss,” Toph choked out. She nearly ran over to Sokka and Aang and dragged them back to the campsite, ignoring their protests and stumbles, mumbling “We can’t talk here.” Once they were back near the campsite. Toph sat down, pulling her knees up to her chest and wrapping her arms around her legs. 

“She’s gone. Katara’s gone,” Toph said, unable to keep her voice from shaking. “We couldn’t talk in that village. But she’s gone.” There was a stinging in her nose and she clenched her eyes shut. She was not going to cry. Katara was annoying and motherly and Toph did not miss her at all. 

“What?” Aang yelped. “Where is she?”

“She- they- they’re taking her-” Toph stopped to take a deep breath, trying to settle her stomach and her nerves, and figure out how to get the words out of her mouth. “Katara was caught, probably by a soldier in that village. They’re taking her to Caldera City, apparently on direct orders from the Fire Lord. She’s long gone.”

“How do you know?” Aang shouted. 

“The- the woman. She saw Katara herself.”

Sokka stood up so fast it gave _Toph_ vertigo. “We have to go after her,” he said, steel in his voice. 

Toph grabbed his hand and tried to tug him down onto the grass, but he wouldn’t budge. “We can’t,” she said sadly. 

“Yes we can, we have to!” Sokka retorted, trying to yank his arm out of Toph’s grip.

“Toph’s right, Sokka,” Aang said with a sniffle. It was a moment before Toph realized he was crying. It was an even longer moment before she realized there were tears streaming down her own face. “We can’t go after her. We don’t even know where she is.”

“Yes, we do, she’s in Caldera City!” Sokka yelled. “Toph just told us.”

Aang slowly shook his head. “Caldera City was huge. And we don’t even know for sure if they’re going to keep her there.”

Sokka paused like he wanted to protest, but instead his breath hitched and his shoulders started to shake and Toph realized he was sobbing silently. 

Toph and Aang stood and pulled Sokka into a hug. “My baby sister….” Sokka whispered. “What’s Gran Gran going to think of me? The last thing I promised her was to take care of Katara.” Toph squeezed harder.

“It’s not your fault,” Aang murmured.

It was a restless night, but eventually, they managed to fall asleep, all curled up against one another.

\---

“So,” a voice drawled. Zuko turned slowly to see Azula casually leaning on the doorframe, examining her manicured nails. 

“What,” he gritted out, already expecting the worst. This was the first time Azula had visited him in his personal quarters since he had gotten back to the Fire Nation. ( _After betraying Uncle_ , the traitorous voice in his head whispered. He promptly told it to shut up.) 

“Jumping straight to the point, are we?” Azula dropped her hand and looked up. “The water tribe peasant,” she commented, giving no further explanation. Zuko consciously unclenched his fists. 

“What about he- it,” Zuko responded, catching his misspeak just in time. ( _A small hand, a feather light touch ghosting his scar, a thumb brushing his lip-_ Zuko shut his eyes and forced away the memory.)

“Mei’s not going to be pleased,” Azula continued with a nasty smirk. Not much of an elaboration.

“And why is that,” he growled.

Azula took a step closer. “Don't pretend like you don't know,” she sneered. Zuko looked at her, nonplussed. “Oh, Zuzu really doesn't know,” she said in a mock baby voice. “Don't make me spell it out for you. You haven't said anything in Father's presence since you made the _right_ choice. And this little water tribe peasant comes to us in chains, and you stop it from getting killed. Don't make me connect the dots for you. Just make sure you don't get too attached to it.”

With that, Azula turned and swept off, leaving Zuko standing in his quarters, still processing what Azula said. He did not _fancy_ that _peasant_ , if that's what she was trying to imply. Nor did he have any attachment to her- it. The peasant was an it. 

He picked up his dark cloak and kicked it back under his bed. Not tonight. Another night maybe. But not tonight. 

Zuko lay in bed, eyes still open, thoughts swirling. Random memories surfaced and disappeared without any indication of purpose. 

_“Never forget who you are…”_

_“Maybe you could be free of it…”_

_“You will learn respect…”_

_“The people of the Fire Nation have desire and will…”_

_“Girls are crazy…”_

Zuko growled loudly and pressed the heels of his palms into his eyes. The memories kept coming. 

_“I didn't ask for your life story…”_

_“You're a terrible person, you know that…”_

_“That's something we have in common…”_

_“Go jump in the river…”_

“Stop it!” Zuko shouted at nobody. He groaned and flopped off his bed, dragging back out the silk cloak. He wasn't getting any sleep tonight anyway, he reasoned. 

He slung the cloak over his shoulders and slipped quietly out of his room.

**Author's Note:**

> Oooooh, who's Zuko going to visit?
> 
> Ngl, I had a really fun time writing this one. 
> 
> Fun story: I randomly came up with the idea for a river name "Shuijing", and I figured why not see if it means something. According to the Google Gods (which, to be fair, I do not entirely trust) it means "crystal". So, I accidentally named the river "Crystal River".


End file.
